Once in a while I'll sing a hymn and not realize how awesome it is till I shutup and read it. I imagined someone reading this passionately, like in spoken word, and rediscovered how great it is. I encourage you to take a minute to read it slowly--much better that way.

"Be Still My Soul"

Be still, my soul; the Lord is on thy side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul; thy best, thy heavenly, Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul; thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence, let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul; the waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Be still, my soul, though dearest friends depart
And all is darkened in the vale of tears;
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrows and thy fears.
Be still, my soul; thy Jesus can repay
From His own fullness all He takes away.

Be still, my soul; the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul; when change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is one of my favorite hymns next to "It Is Well With My Soul". I absolutely love the tune. Some of them contemporary people need to discover that there are tons of hymns that convey great emotion but along with great emotive tunes they also have rich lyrics. So, it's not just the tune pulling at your heart-strings but the words as well.

Returning to the Heart said...

Funny you should say that- It is Well is my favorite hymn too! No lie. In fact we just sang this past Sunday. I love it too because I know all the words and don't need to look in the hymnal... which makes worship much better (when your nose isn't stuck in a hymn book). But yeah I agree about some of those classic hymn tunes- some of them can never be improved upon, though some are pretty hard to get into- good example- Oh Love That Will Not Let Me Go... old tune is tough to feel joyous in, new tune is very nice and cheery.